Britannicus
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman Emperor Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina. For a time, he was considered his father's heir, but that changed after his mother's downfall in 48, when it was revealed she had engaged in a bigamous marriage without Claudius' knowledge. The next year, his father married Agrippina the Younger, Claudius' fourth and final marriage. Their marriage was followed by the adoption of Agrippina's son, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, whose name became Nero as a result. His stepbrother would later be married to Britannicus' sister Octavia and soon eclipsed him as Claudius' heir. After his father's death in October 54, Nero became emperor. The sudden death of Britannicus shortly before his fourteenth birthday is reported by all extant sources as being the result of poisoning on Nero's orders; as Claudius' biological son, he represented a threat to Nero's claim to the throne. In Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars, he claims that Nero poisoned Britannicus out of envy of his voice, due to Nero's own obsession with performance and being the best entertainer of all time.
Name
Britannicus' name at birth was Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. The agnomen, his first surname Germanicus, was first awarded to his paternal grandfather, Drusus the Elder, after his death in 9 BC to commemorate his victories over the Germanic tribes. Accordingly, Drusus' sons inherited the name and passed it to their sons as well. Britannicus was given to his father in AD 43 after his conquest of Britain. Claudius never used it himself and gave the name to his son instead, and his full name became Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus. He came to be known by his new name, which seems to have replaced Germanicus altogether.Background and family
Britannicus was born on or about 12 February 41 in Rome, to Emperor Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina. As such, he was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, specifically of the gens Claudia. Britannicus' father had been reigning for less than a month, and his position was boosted greatly by the birth of an heir. To mark the birth, the emperor issued sestertii with the obverse Spes Augusta, the hope of the imperial family.Britannicus had four siblings: a half-brother, Claudius Drusus, by Claudius' first wife, though he died before Britannicus was born; a half-sister, Antonia, by Claudius' second wife ; a sister by the same mother named Octavia; and an adoptive brother, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who was adopted in AD 49 and renamed Nero Claudius Caesar as a result.
Two years later, in 43, Claudius was granted the honorific "Britannicus" by the Senate as a reward for his conquest of Britain. The emperor never used the name himself but allowed his son to inherit it and it is the name by which the boy became known to posterity. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, a Roman historian, wrote from the late first century that Claudius adored Britannicus; carried him around at public events; and "would wish him happy auspices, joined by the applauding throng".
Father's marriage to Messalina
Education
Britannicus was tutored by Sosibius, who was a close associate of Publius Suillius Rufus and a friend of his mother. He was educated alongside Titus Vespasianus, the future emperor. They were brought up together and taught similar subjects by the same tutors.In 47, Sosibius gave Claudius a reminder of the power and wealth, which threatened the emperor's throne. His tutor then, as part of his mother's contrivances, told the emperor of Decimus Valerius Asiaticus's involvement in the murder of Caligula and of his growing popularity in Rome. Sosibius went on, saying Asiaticus meant to rally Roman legions in Germania against the throne. Asiaticus was apprehended immediately and brought to Rome in chains. Sullius successfully pursued charges against other equestrians in the Senate. According to Cassius Dio, Asiaticus was put to death as a favour to Messalina for his property.
It was later voted by the Senate for Sosibius to be given a million sesterces for giving Britannicus the benefit of his teachings and Claudius that of his counsel.
Fall of Messalina
Britannicus took part in the celebrations of Rome's 800th anniversary in AD 48. It was the sixth-ever Ludi Saeculares and sixty-four years since the last one had been held in the summer of 17 BC by Augustus. Britannicus' father was there, as was Lucius Domitius and his mother Agrippina, the last two surviving descendants of Germanicus. Claudius watched the young nobility, including Britannicus and Domitius, enact the Battle of Troy in the circus. Tacitus says that Domitius was greeted with more enthusiasm than Britannicus.The games were seen as the introduction of Agrippina and Domitius to public life, and Britannicus' mother, Messalina, must have been aware of that and been envious of Agrippina. Tacitus writes that Messalina was too busy engaging in an "insane" affair to plot the destruction of Agrippina. He says:
The affair continued into the next year. It was then that the affair between Messalina and Silius took a new turn. Silius, who had no children of his own, proposed to marry Messalina if she allowed him to adopt Britannicus. The plan was to overthrow Claudius and rule together as regents of Britannicus. She acquiesced and waited for Claudius to leave Rome before she performed the sacrifice and entered the bigamous marriage. The illegal union was made known to Claudius by Callistus and Narcissus, freedmen in his service. Claudius had Messalina, Silius and others who knew of the affair put to death. Messalina was given a knife to kill herself, but a tribune of the Praetorian Guard had to force it through her neck. Images and statues of Silius and his associates were ordered to be destroyed.
Father's marriage to Agrippina
The fall of Silius and Messalina opened the way for Agrippina the Younger to become his father's fourth wife. His father claimed to be uninterested in another marriage, but it was not long until he remarried. Unlike his uncle Germanicus, his father had never been adopted into the Julii. Claudius thought that marrying his niece would bring his family closer to that of Augustus, as Agrippina and Domitius were the last living descendants of Germanicus. Therefore, in 49, although a marriage between uncle and niece was incestuous under Roman law, his father remarried. As a daughter of Germanicus and a descendant of Augustus, she was very popular among soldiers and the people. In short, her excellent bloodline and strong political connections made her an attractive candidate for marriage.Rise of Nero
In 49, during the term of consul-elect Mammius Pollio, Domitius was betrothed to his sister Octavia and thus became his equal in rank. Tacitus suggests that move had the support of those who feared the vengeance of Britannicus against those who wronged his mother.By the insistence of Pallas, his father was convinced to adopt Domitius as his son. Claudius was convinced to do as Augustus had done in adopting Gaius and Lucius Caesar and as Tiberius had done in adopting Germanicus although he already had a son. In February 50, his father passed a law adopting Domitius into the Claudii and naming him Nero, and Domitius became "Nero Claudius Caesar". Nero and Britannicus then became joint heirs to the emperor, and Agrippina was then given the title of Augusta.
In AD 51, his brother Nero assumed the toga virilis although he was not yet 14. The Senate also decided then that Nero should hold the consulship during his twentieth year and that as consul-elect, that he should enjoy imperium proconsulare beyond the limits of Rome with the title of princeps iuventutis. The progress of Nero seems to have followed in the footsteps of Gaius and Lucius Caesar. To mark the occasion, a donative was given to the soldiery of Rome, and presents to the people. His stepbrother's status, along with that of Agrippina, is echoed on contemporary coinage.
In contrast, Britannicus was progressively isolated. At the games of the circus, Nero appeared in triumphal robes while Britannicus was still dressed as a boy. Tacitus says their clothing at the games affected the expectations of the people: with Nero in a general's clothing and Britannicus in the dress of boyhood. He was not due for the toga until 12 February AD 55. He and his supporters were seen as a potential problem for Nero. Agrippina replaced his tutors with her own nominees and had convinced Claudius to order their executions, including the execution of Sosibius. Not only his tutors but also the two prefects of the Praetorian Guard, Lusius Geta and Rufius Crispinus, were replaced. Tacitus reports that they were thought to be sympathetic to the cause of Britannicus and of his mother. His stepmother had them replaced with Sextus Afranius Burrus, who was a good soldier but knew to whom he owed his allegiance.
Nero's career progressed steadily, and he gave speeches in AD 51 and 52. The speech in 51 thanked the emperor for honours given to him, and that of 52 was a vow for the safe recovery of the emperor from illness. It was in 53 that Nero married Britannicus' sister Octavia, who first had to be legally transferred to another family to obviate charges of incest. By then, it became clear that Nero was the unambiguous designate. His stepbrother became more politically active following his marriage to Octavia. He exempted the people of Ilium from all public burdens by arguing that Rome was descended from Troy through Aeneas, procured funds for the colony of Bononia, which had been devastated by fire, and the people of Rhodes had their freedom restored. Meanwhile, Britannicus himself was kept in reserve in case Nero, who was widely seen as the heir, died.